Those following my other blog, Optifast Gourmet -- which chronicles my first go around with Optifast -- know that I successfully lost 80 lbs. and made it to goal in January 2013. I started the program in late March 2012 weighing 239 lbs. on a 5'6 body, and by hanging in on a mostly full fast for 9 months, I made it to a healthy 159 lbs. (on average). It was a long haul.
Due to a low metabolism and other factors, my average weekly loss rate on Optifast was only 2.2 lbs./week. But I must add the caveat that I never fully embraced a good, solid exercise program during and after the Optifasting. Why? Well, I dislike it. Immensely. And let's face it: I'm lazy. But I know now that I've just got to have an exercise component in place to stay at goal. I'll write more about that later.
At this juncture, I am roughly 25 lbs. over my goal weight. I don't have the exact number as today is Thursday and I have decided to weigh myself once a week on Friday mornings. But it's somewhere around here. So throughout the course of one year in Optifast maintenance, I gained back 25 lbs. By my own doing. And this folks, is unacceptable.
I'm actually quite proud of myself for putting the brakes on this gain now, before things continued to spiral out of control. I had worked myself into quite a feeding frenzy and completely sedentary lifestyle, and this would have continued. Facing the challenge of losing 25 lbs. versus 80 lbs. is a little bit more palatable for me. But this ain't going to be easy. Oh no, far from that.
What's working for me right now in these initial days of adjusting to the Optifast products is this: Just stay in today. When I go into the future and think about how long I might have to be on product to reach goal, or making it through upcoming parties and holidays on product, I get into trouble. No, I stay right in today. Thursday, March 6, 2014. Day Two.
I'm taking the next two days off of work so I can adjust to the products. My experience is when I started the program, for the first few days I was exhausted, dizzy and had a little trouble driving. And those hunger pangs! My office is full of junk food and I don't want to be anywhere near that right now. I've cleaned out my fridge and cupboards of dangerous food here at home, so I'm nice and comfortable. Yes, I'm fine right where I am today!
I remember when I was Optifasting the first time around, I was deeply concerned about gaining my weight back, and very interested in learning why people gained their weight back and what I could do to avoid that. I will devote some space in this blog to relay my own experience, in the hopes that it might help you in some way. Several factors contributed to my regain: my love of cooking and eating; some emotional issues; laziness; throwing caution to the wind; etc. etc. I'll elaborate in the days and months to come.
I have always viewed my weight loss and management as a "journey." When I say "never-ending journey," in some ways that makes me uncomfortable. That sounds so onerous. So I am thinking about ways to re-phrase this. I'll come up with something. For now, it's Day Two. It's today. It's one foot in front of the other. I like that.
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